Keeping Busy?

Re-Tired!

My husband and I reluctantly crawled out of bed at 8:00 a.m. this morning - that's sleeping in for us.  He walked the dogs.  I made coffee and got the kitchen fire going and on his return from the walk we both settled into our usual daily routine - me checking Face Book, e-mail, and playing Words With Friends, husband jumping from news station to news station on the net.  Made pancakes and commented on how tired we were and before you know it there we were, side by side on our love-seat recliner, sound asleep.          

Retired is a good word for the switch from the working world to the realm of seniorhood.  But it's not quite spelled right.  Re-tired would be more accurate.  So here I am, in my 7th year of re-tirement, feeling tired, and laughing to myself over a question a friend asked recently.  "So, how is it being retired," she said.  "Do you manage to keep busy?  Are you enjoying it?"  Now this friend is looking forward to retiring from one of those jobs that keeps her brain working hard, keeps her in the public eye, and is making a difference.  She loves her work.  At least that's how I read her.  I have a feeling she will have a hard time letting go.  I also loved my job, and felt I was making a difference, but was so ready to reconnect with my life before working out, our beautiful farm, our little paradise in the woods, so ready that I've never missed the workplace at all.

And keeping busy? Hahahahaha.  Chores are ever present of course - breakfast, dishes, lunch, laundry, supper, straightening-up, re-creating a semblance of order, shopping, keeping the fire going, vacuuming, etc. - all lumped under the umbrella called housework.  There's the morning internet interaction, my blog, Netflix, reading a good book, the frequent inflow and outflow of guests for coffee, a meal, a beer or a glass of "Mary Lynn's Fabulous HoneyBerry or Raspberry Wine", and visiting family down south. And then there's the music.  Music is a huge part of my life, playing mandolin and singing while my husband plays banjo.  There's the "band" too, our garage band, our circle of friends that we practice with, our friends that we jam with, the laughs, philosophies and good times we share.  I can be ready for bed one minute and ready to play music for hours the next.  It's intoxicating in itself. Four nights in a row we picked, strummed and sang, and of course had some of "Mary Lynn's Fabulous HoneyBerry or Raspberry Wine".  Music is why today is so tired.  Music is an awesome reason to be (re)tired.

Seasonal stuff - every season has it's extra added something to add to "busy". Christmas is a huge time commitment, as huge as I want to make it.  Not just shopping for gifts, and not a lot of decorating - mostly parties, baking, friends.  Once past New Years and a couple of birthdays I sink into my annual financial accounting, trying to do a month each day.  Not long after there's making ready for lambing, then lambing itself, record keeping, keeping the lambs healthy, maybe a bottle baby or two, then shearing.  Spring and summer there's the garden in all its phases from seeds in the ground to food on the table, jars and freezer bags, carrots in peat moss, potatoes in the root cellar.  Autumn is wine making season and, as the days shorten, a type of hibernation begins to set in, culminating in the winter solstice when it all begins again.  And so it goes, the circle of life.

So retirement, as far as I'm concerned, is mainly a joy. It may take a day of Netflix marathoning interspersed with naps to recover from ODing on parties or just plain being super busy.  A trip to the city may wear you out for a time.  You may take a bit longer to recover from a bug you caught from the grand kids.  You may have a hitch or two in your git-along.  But these are all related to that circle.  You're born, become a youngster, a teen, a woman (man), middle aged, elderly, and finally you're gone.  A gradually receding memory of you (and maybe even some of your electrical energy) remains behind to nurture succeeding generations.  Who knows, some day my great great great grandchild may search out her ancestry and discover this strange mando pickin' lady who left the city and went back to the land oh so many years ago.

A Twist on Words

When reporting or commenting on the civil war in the Ukraine we affix a label describing those who are fighting the Ukrainian government -  pro-Russian separatists, Russian-backed separatists, anti-government separatists.  The label used influences both our view of the situation and our understanding of the conflict.  For me, Pro-Russian separatists gives the impression that the separatists want to become a part of Russia. Russian-backed separatists gives me the impression that Russia  is taking an active part in the conflict, sending arms, equipment, men.  Anti-government separatists gives me the impression that the armed activists want the Ukrainian government to change and to recognize and safeguard their Russian culture and language and, if this fails to occur, they want to form a separate state.

Why does Western Media consistently use the term Russian-backed?  Is there any real proof of this?  Are we looking for an excuse to send aide, money, arms, equipment, and men to take sides in the conflict?  Why are we  in the West taking sides in this conflict at all?  Should the known to be corrupt, financially failing Ukrainian government be backed and safeguarded by the west, by the Euro Zone?  If they had treated their Russian speaking population well in the first place would this civil war have taken place?  It is totally possible that this separatist movement has roots in some very real grievances.  In my opinion this conflict should be settled by diplomacy, not by war.  But this is my opinion. These are my wonderings.  You can find opinions in print, on the net, and on the TV screen in direct opposition to my view.  The world of the Media is a very confusing place.

It is easy to skew our picture of what is going on in the world, especially the world beyond our borders, beyond what we can actually experience first hand. By using particular wording, particular photos and/or films, by including some shots or interviews and excluding others, by toning down or sensationalizing, the media is able to colour our thinking, to induce us to believe the "truth" according to their editors (or censors, or governments, or causes, etc.).  In my opinion most news media is slanted toward one ideology (version of the truth) or another.  Look, for example, at Fox News, a news station which I see as the right wing mouthpiece of America.  Look at the fearsome news releases if ISIS.  Look at the Conservative government of Canada's current ads on TV.

Reporters, news-anchors, newspapers have a responsibility to be unbiased when airing the news for the public, a lofty ideal which is difficult to achieve.  I hope most do try.  Movies, one of our "sources" of information, tell us that every good reporter seeks the truth, the scoop, the exposé.  (Superman comes to my mind.)  It will not only make their name, it will reveal a hidden truth, and it will sell. Most media outlets are dependant on ratings.  The news is now another show. Viewers/readers must not only be informed, they must be entertained.  Their editors and station managers control what is printed/shown, and in some cases their governments also have a hand in the pie.

People are busy.  They want to be "informed" but can rarely spare the time to ferret out "reality".  We have become a society with an attention span of 10 seconds to 10 minutes, the length of commercials and the shows in-between.  News is only newsworthy when it's fresh and seems to disappear in the face of something new on the scene.  Have you heard much of anything about Ebola lately?  It's still there, still ongoing, but in the media is largely absent.  It's old news. Old news does not get high ratings.  Low rated media does not attract advertisers.  Media without financial backing has a hard time surviving.          

So how in the world can we get the truth?  The dictionary definition of truth says that the truth is the real facts about something or, and this is an important distinction, a statement or idea that is accepted to be true.  The problem is that truth is in the eye of the beholder.  This is not an indication that we should avoid the news altogether.  Slanted or not there's bound to be a certain amount of reality within, probably lots.  At the very least it keeps us apprised of disasters, conflicts, local maniacs, successes, government plans and expenditures, and more. We just need to be aware that what is written or filmed or spoken will always reflect a point of view, and, because of this, may be a partial truth that requires some scrutiny.

"The Interview"

So, I watched "The Interview" on Netflix last night.  Not a bad movie, glad though that I never paid full price at any theatre to see it.  Kinda funny, bringing out smiles rather than guffaws.  Should this movie have been stopped in its tracks? I don't think many North Americans would think so.  Is it conspiring to undermine the North Korean regime or meant to make the North Koreans question their lifestyle?  How?  It's likely it would never be released in North Korea.  Is it subtly pointing out the extremes within most societies?  Possibly.  Or maybe it's just another dumb comedy...

I can understand why North Koreans would find the film offensive.  It covered every aspect of North America's negative perception of "the way it is over there".   North Korea's leader is portrayed as living luxuriously while the general population is poor and oppressed.  Kim Jong-un is also depicted as almost childish, willing to risk the lives of his people to satisfy his own ego. This is not the first time North Korea has been satirized on the American movie screen.  The movie "Team America", whose characters are played by marionettes, is an equally offensive film in which Kim Jong-il, Kim Jong-un's father and predecessor, plays a role. This film, however, is more focussed on US foreign policy than on North Korea and is a gut splitting laugh at the USA's perceived tendency to "police the world".   Like "The Interview", "Team America" stirred up its own bee hive of controversy.  (For more on Team America see: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_America:_World_Police)

Regardless of who hacked Sony Pictures and attempted to stop the release of "The Interview",  in my opinion they failed to reach their goal.  They did achieve a strong reaction but suppression was not the outcome.  Instead they created the best advertising the film could get, engendering a vast amount of interest for people to watch it and find out what was so bloody controversial!

Filmmakers, cartoonists, commentators who wish to bring to light widely accepted but erroneous aspects of the human condition often use satire to achieve their ends. It is a means of jarring our minds, waking us up to what otherwise might slide by in our busy lives. No perceived human folly is sacred in the eyes of the satirist.  He uses his art to catch our attention.  "The Interview" uses political satire to achieve a comedic effect.

Satire can be seen in a variety of ways.  We may laugh, be insulted or disgusted, become irate or say "right  on!" It is meant to cause a reaction. It's not that easy to be made fun of in the media, to have your secrets told, your dirty laundry exposed, your strongest beliefs ridiculed.  No government, institution, religion or individual is completely willing to say "anything goes" and, if the circumstances are right, all are quite capable of  putting a lid on free speech.  If what is said is perceived to incite hate, war, prejudice - if it is inaccurate or disloyal - well, how far is too far? Who decides? Strong conflicting views bring out widely differing responses to that question. You can't say much of anything without offending someone.  Does that mean we all should restrict our observations and conversations to safe topics like the weather?  Heck, even the weather is controversial these days!

Following in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo killings in France, I wonder where lies the future of free speech in film, cartoons, journalism, on the net, in any public forum (including blogs).  A nation, a religion, an individual, a culture that is comfortable with its beliefs and actions should have the ability to laugh at itself.  If it can't, maybe something should be questioned, put under scrutiny.  I believe satirical comedy films and cartoons have an important place in the realm of free speech.  They draw attention to shortcomings, follies, archaic views and outright lies.  They are opinions to be accepted, rejected or ignored.  They may be in poor taste or insulting to some but they provide a humorous means to show us where we are inaccurate, downright wrong or just plain foolish. They have the ability to activate your brain.  That's a good thing.

Because We Can

Statistics show that nearly half of the food produced in North America is wasted, never eaten. Why?  Many reasons - poor planning, poor storage, over production, poor appearance, portions too large, expiry dates, spoilage ... and, the saddest reason of all - BECAUSE WE CAN.

I have struggled over this particular blog entry for days, writing and re-writing, because, while the subject is dear to my heart, I don't want to preach. My husband and I farm so I reside at the beginning of the food chain.  Because I prepare the garden plot, add the manure, plant my stakes, sow the seeds, thin, weed, harvest, use fresh, process or store a good portion of my fruits and vegetables; because I (more my husband) care for my sheep flock, worry over them, feed them, choose one to feed my family, kill it, butcher it, wrap and freeze it - well I've gained a healthy respect for the work and caring involved and tend to feel pretty lousy if I end up throwing some of this harvest out. But most people live in towns and cities, buy their food from stores and do not share my close connection to the land and its bounty.  This causes a bit of a disconnect leaving many with less passion to avoid waste.

It's impossible to control food production and consumption without producing some waste. Circumstances vary from household to household, but I have a feeling we could all waste less with a bit of planning and caring.  Why bother?  Why should we care? Cost? The millions of starving people in the world who would never get any of it anyhow (distribution, conflicts, corruption). So why?  I put it down to respect for the value of the commodity itself, to respect for the environment, to respect for the efforts of the many people involved in getting foods from farm to market so you can bring them to your table, to empathy for the homeless and working poor, and to a recognition that WE ARE NOT ENTITLED TO THE MOST AND THE BEST - WE'RE JUST LUCKY TO HAVE IT.

All foods are perishable.  Meal planning and thoughtful buying is the key to less waste. Because it's nearly impossible to gauge consumption perfectly, it's a good idea to plan in advance how you will use or preserve the leftovers that can be kept. This is not as difficult or regimented as you might expect.  I'm not talking about charting your every move in the kitchen or even about planning your week's meals in advance. Main course leftovers are pretty easy to deal with.  Casseroles and stews are often better tasting the next day, can be tasty lunches if a microwave is available, and most can be frozen.  Keeping a stash of good recipes using leftover meats is good enough planning.  The key is to remember to use them!  Foods kept in the fridge for later use can disappear behind or under other items and, if they do, they go bad and end up in the trash anyhow, despite good intentions.  Sometimes the freezer is a better choice than the fridge.  But an overloaded freezer can be another reason for food waste - freezer burn, quality lost over time. Fridges and freezers only preserve foods if they are used up in a timely manner.

Once fresh fruits and vegetables are cooked, used in salads or slaw, cut into or sliced, their palatability is in serious danger and they are usually chucked if not eaten at the meal for which they are made.  The key here to less waste, besides resisting the tendency to overbuy, is portioning.  Instead of the big salad bowl, try making individual salads.  Get to know the approximate quantities of fruits and vegetables your family will eat at one sitting and control your desire to add that extra bit when you are preparing and/or cooking. Think of them as delicious, nutritious extras to accompany the main course. Also, if you can't get to the store often enough to keep fresh produce on hand, canned or frozen produce, though less palatable, is another option.

Another big reason for food waste is expiry dates.  I don't know how many times I've watched someone look at a best before date on something in their fridge or cupboard and immediately chuck the product in the garbage because it is "outdated".

By law, "Best before" dates and proper storage instructions (if they differ from normal room temperature) must appear on pre-packaged foods that will keep fresh for 90 days or less, and are packaged at a place other than the retail store from which they are sold. Retail-packed foods that have a durable life date of 90 days or less must be labelled with the packaging date (known as 'packaged on' date); and the durable life of the food on the label or on a poster next to the food. You can buy and eat foods after the 'best before' date has passed. However, when this date has passed, the food may lose some of its freshness and flavour, or its texture may have changed. Some of its nutritional value, such as vitamin C content, may also be lost. Remember that 'best before' dates are not indicators of food safety, neither before nor after the date. They apply to unopened products only. Once opened, the shelf life of a food may change. Foods with an anticipated shelf life greater than 90 days are not required to be labelled with a 'best before' date or storage information." (From Date Labelling on Pre-packaged Foods - Food - Canadian Food ...www.inspection.gc.ca › ... › Food › Information for Consumers › Fact Sheets, Sep 17, 2014.)  Despite no requirement to do so, I found expiry dates on numerous canned and dried products in my cupboard, some years in the future.  Why I'm not sure but I will control my natural urge to skepticism and say it's because the processors feel that these products would lose some of their quality if used after the affixed date.

If you find that you have many products that are passing their BBdates before they've even begun to get used up, maybe you should consider buying these products in smaller quantities.  A large quantity of a food that can't possibly be consumed before or relatively soon after the BBdate is really not a bargain.

Some food waste is inevitable.  A person could get OCD over using every scrap.  But the truth of the matter is this, we are responsible through lack of interest or caring for a tremendous amount of food waste. Lots of perfectly good, edible food is tossed in the trash instead of feeding someone who's hungry. Yes, yes, I know, there's lots wasted in restaurants, grocery outlets and elsewhere.  We are not in a position to control these other factors.  But we can set a goal for ourselves to waste less in our own kitchens. Why? BECAUSE WE CAN.
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Good sites to check out:

The Dating Game, How Confusing Food Date Labels Lead to Food Waste in America. Read more at: http://www.nrdc.org/food/expiration-dates.asp.

Best before labels often confuse consumers: Harvard study | CTV ...http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/best-before-labels-often-confuse-consumers-harvard-study-1.1465304#ixzz3NhTD8a4N.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas, western culture's winter holiday, is named after a great man who influenced hundreds of people during his life, maybe thousands. Since his death large numbers of people have embraced what is claimed to be his philosophy, interpreted by his disciples and written down in the Christian Bible.  In modern times Christian religions have attracted millions of members, claiming Jesus Christ as their founder and the inspiration for their teachings, and also claiming, in most cases, that he is the son of god. Christ's influence is so great that we count our years from his arbitrarily chosen birthday. It's now 2014AD, two thousand and fourteen years after the birth of Christ. So, Merry Christmas to all people whose calendars mark December 25th to be Christmas Day, regardless of your religious affiliation or lack thereof. No need, in my book, to change this greeting to "Happy Holidays".

But Christians do not have a monopoly on this joyful winter festival simply because of its accepted name. Non-Christians, secularists, atheists, humanists, even people of different faiths celebrate the season as well. Santa Claus, Christmas trees and lights, family, friends, neighbors, feasting, gift giving, and parties play an important part in nearly everyone's Christmas, including Christians. It's a way to brighten the gloom of winter's darkest days.

Some form of winter celebration has always been a part of history. Christmas is nothing new.  Over time the feast name and reason for celebration has been changed. (A good source about Christmas in history is "Christmas Before Christ: The Surprising Truth! - United Church of God, www.ucg.org/christian-living/christmas-christ-surprising-truth.")  Where did Christmas and our traditional forms of celebration come from?

"In the Roman Empire, by the time of Christ, Saturnalia, winter festival, was well known and established. The Roman Church was unable to get rid of the pagan holiday.  So early in the 4th Century, the Roman Catholic Church, which was the dominant church in Europe, adopted the holiday and tried to convert it into a Christian celebration by declaring December 25 to be the day of the Lord's birth. They called it the Feast of the Nativity. This custom has been part of western culture ever since."  (From "What are the origins of Christmas? | How did Christmas begin ...carm.org/what-are-the-origins-of-christmas.")

"... pagan traditions remained even as Christianity took hold. The Christmas tree is a 17th-century German invention ... but it clearly derives from the pagan practice of bringing greenery indoors to decorate in midwinter. The modern Santa Claus is a direct descendent of England's Father Christmas, who was not originally a gift-giver. However, Father Christmas and his other European variations are modern incarnations of old pagan ideas about spirits who traveled the sky in midwinter..."  (From Pagan Roots? 5 Surprising Facts About Christmas - LiveScience, www.livescience.com/25779-christmas-traditions-history-paganism.html. Dec 22, 2012.)

Christmas, then, is a multifaceted holiday.  Its roots are deep; its traditions are both ancient and more current.  It's basically the celebration of the winter solstice, the beginning of lengthening days. And if you are Christian, it's also a birthday celebration.

An Alien in My Head

It's December now, a couple of months since the alien entered my head. He snuck in so stealthily I'm not even sure when it happened. In hind-sight I think I may remember a sudden little itch near the hairline, right side, while I was sitting at the picnic table with friends enjoying the warm sun and a gin and tonic. Gave it a bit of a scratch, never thought anymore about it until ... well, until I woke up next day with a fairly large bump on my head, like I had whacked it on something.  The bump proceeded to expand into a swelling. I looked like I had bags of water under my eyes. Hmm, an allergy reaction to something?

Since I had a doctor appointment coming up in 2 days I took allergy tabs and waited. The doctor said you're not taking enough allergy meds so I began taking the maximum dosage on the label. That was Thursday. By Sunday the swelling had taken over the entire right side of my face so I beat it into emergency. The doctor there gave me prednisone, a tab a day, and it worked - swelling gone by the following Thursday. Maybe I was imagining the alien? Like it says on those TV commercials - just allergies.

The kids and grandkids arrived for a welcome and infrequent visit on Friday. Overnight the alien kicked up a fuss.  I woke in the morning knowing another trip to emergency was inevitable. The right side of my face looked like it belonged to someone else, someone unrecognizable and kinda scary. This time the doctor in emergency figured I had an abscessed tooth and gave me a prescription for an antibiotic. That night we had a birthday party for my granddaughter's friend, played music, had a fine sing-a-long, a great time except for the obvious presence of the alien which we all, including myself, managed (pretended) to ignore. Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy ....

I saw my dentist on Tuesday. He couldn't find any sign of an abscess. By Thursday the alien had again slipped into hiding. I saw the doctor at the clinic and he gave me the all-clear to visit my sister in the States. As far as the alien was concerned my 2 weeks in the States were uneventful. Maybe there was no alien, never was, and, if there was he'd moved on to another host...

But the alien kicked up havoc once again. Soon after returning home from my holiday I broke off a tooth - an important tooth - one which was absolutely necessary in holding in a partial plate I'd had for years. Now how did the alien manage that? This tooth proved to be unfixable and set into motion a series of events leaving me with an entire new set of upper teeth, unable to bite, barely able to chew, and feeling like I have a golf ball in my mouth. I am adjusting. I choke a lot less now. I ate a potato chip today!

My doctor says the continual pressure I feel in my forehead is nerves that were affected by the initial swelling and that I could expect to have this odd feeling for maybe 6 months or even a year.  But I know better.  It's not damaged nerves, it's "you know who". He's sleeping in there.

This leads me to wonder, what else does the alien have in store for me?

Winter Arrived Today

           Winter Arrived Today

November 8, 2014, Winter arrived today.

Snow is here, -10 degrees,

Sweep the car off, scrape the windshield,

Warm it up before moving.

Unploughed roads, no centre line, 

Log trucks spread white-outs as they zip by.

Highway slush ridges pull at the wheels.

Mental adjustment not yet accomplished

For safe driving or dressing warm.

It's a white knuckle day.

Can't get warm, heat's up, fire's going, 

A clammy dampness has crawled in

Causing arthritic joints to complain.

Semi-darkness seeps inside from overcast skies.

Looks like my dog is wearing white frozen socks.

Need a comfort food and flannel nightie combo,

Cinnamon toast, a nice cup of tea with honey.

A fuzzy blanket, a chick flick, 

My dog curled up by my feet.

Winter arrived today, November 8, 2014